, 1887-12-16
mgNDINe BROKEN sRlc-A-sRAc.
Specialists Who Devote Their Time to
Patching and Restoring.

QueeT CorneTs' people ana occupations rs
any city of ITS size in the world. Most
OF these oddities, however, possess little
value outside of the purely picturesque,
and depend for even that on individual
taste. a few are quite reasonable.
Among the latter may be classed a pecu,
liar industry not yet of a size to admit of
its being troubled much by the state of
the labor market. This calling is en-
tirely in the hands of a few wide awake
Swiss, whose a~teliers are scattered over
the uptown business portions of the
city. and is dignified by the title of Ear.
t.Stic repairing"
One of the best known and busiest of
their number was, when called upon,
engaged on Just such a task. owe
have" he said, Every few shop secrets
because our trade Is entirely one of deli
cacy and skill and involves such n va
riety of knacks that we nave little fear
of competition. There is absolutely no
restriction as to the nature OF the article
brought to us for repair, or as to the
amount of damage it has sustained, to
lie within our ability TO restore it.
Most of our patrons being extremely
wealthy, we are trusted daily with the
rarest and most costly articles, which
would never be placed in the hands of
inexperienced workmen, so that what
we do is both expensive and in keeping
with the elegance of the article to be
mended.
"You can judge of the extent of our
operations somewhat when l tell you
that | am a matchmaker, cabinetmaker,
painter in oil and water colors. carver of
wood, marble and ivory, modeler in clay,
n musician and chemist, all combined.
In any of these branches 1 should prob
ably prove a distinguished failure along
side of men who nave devoted a lifetime
10 the particular one, but in Geneva
where l was educated, we are taught to
be careful, and 1 have learned enough
and practiced long enough to be able to
perform successfully the essential part of
my business, which is TO copy faithfully
and naturally whatever is set before me.
This porcelain vase at which / am now at
work is a very ordinary job. 1 received
it In sixty-four pieces, each piece, cal
culnting by the original value of jar,
having cost something above So. This
makes it slightly worth repairing.
1.-The soundest and largest portion was
the bottom, which vas about three times
ms thick as the rest and, Of course, stood
tho fall better. In the course of an hours
search l managed to find a little section
that fitted exactly to a nick In the first.
This was securely fastened in its place
with cement and set away to harden. 1t
is impossible at this stage of proceedings
to put on more than one piece at n time.
Other work is disposed of and in course
of time another fragment added to the
originals, then n fourth and fifth, and 30
on. The vase has gradually grown in
this way to its original proportions. As
,,Atls.- I-t A.. E,.,t ,-I .rIst..A 49,
Is used, the dirty streaking that oharac-
terizes badly mended china is avoided.
However, several of the broken bits have
been lost and some have crumbled 50 fine
as to be unavailable. This leaves an ugly
hole in the side, a large nick in the rim
and completely ruins n beautiful painted
bouquet. 1 neat a stick of n certain
plastic substance of my own invention
and carefully fill in the gaps yet left.
With u fine steel spatula the material il
pared down even on both sides, intro
duced into the hicks and is carefully
molde into the delicate curl of the rim,
which it initiates exactly. In one hour
these additions are firmly set and almost
as hard as the original material. With
palette in hand they are treated by me to
several coats of oil color of exactly the
same tint as the porcelain. The roses are
restored by painting the lacking parts in
on the new surface, and the lines of
cement covered up in the same way. A
coat or two Of isinglass varnish and
well-there IS a vase that cost S125, in
which the sharpest eye would fail to de-
tect n flaw and although the outer coat
OF vnrnish might feel n little funny to
the fingers of a connoisseur.
Frequently cabinets of rare and ex-
pcnsive woods are sent to us which by
some fatality have been split, rotted or
stripped of certain parts of the
tation. We cut away the damaged parts,
restore the same variety of Woo or a
perfect imitation thereof, and carve it to
match. l have now on hand n Japanese
cabinet, the top edges of which We're or
namented with n row OF little ivory
figures like chessmen, half of which were
gone. | am carving out exact duplicates
of every one to replace their fellows, and
expect to mako a very creditable job of
it. Marble %statuary, terra Gotta and
other ornaments we rejoin il broken, and
add well nodded replicas Of missing por-
tons, il there are such. We clean arms
and armor for collectors, which Is in it.
self u trade, rs the dirt and rust must be
removed with acids without affecting the
blackness and oxidation of the metal
which guarantee the antiquity. The
slightest sign Of polish or repair would be
IN irreparable damage. For armor, too,
we construct fearful and wonderful war
riors, stuffed with straw and with wax
heads, on which the iron harness is
riveted as In days of old, when knights
were bold But somehow these seem
pretty tame.
Our most important work has to do
with n certain class Of mechanical matters.
We study out the wants of old fashioned
clock movement which nre unintelligible
to the modern ~horologist. Some of these
arc entirely of wood, wheels and pinions
alike. We make wooden works for the
old cases, and superintend the making of
cases for old movements. The various
sets Of chimes and musical wonders con-
cealed in old foreign clocks are familiar
TO us. where it would require weeks of
examination for most people to compre-
bend them. The fine points of these ar
ticles must be feared abroad, SO that we
n as experts in this line. New York
Star.
Cedar Wood for Pencils.